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Suspended MBTA cop McKeon pleads guilty to assault on girlfriend

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com

Updated:
05/09/2013 07:33:59 PM EDT

LOWELL -- A suspended MBTA police detective from Littleton, who is also facing charges that he caused a drunken, armed standoff with Nashua police in February, pleaded guilty Thursday in Lowell District Court to assaulting a former girlfriend in Chelmsford.

Gary R. McKeon, the 47-year-old son of retired Chelmsford Police Chief Raymond McKeon, pleaded guilty to charges of assault and battery, destruction of property, threats (all misdemeanors) and a felony count of intimidation of a witness.

After initially balking at a deal that involved a felony conviction, McKeon agreed to a joint recommendation of one year in jail, with 49 days to serve (deem served), with the balance of the sentence suspended for two years while he is on probation.

During his probation, McKeon must complete a batterer's program, attend counseling, attend three Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week, remain drug and alcohol free, and abide by the year-long restraining order obtained by the victim on Thursday.

On Dec. 16, 2012 at around 11 p.m., the couple had driven back to the victim's Chelmsford apartment after going out dinner with friends, Prosecutor Christine Maltby said. When the victim refused to go out with McKeon's friends to another establishment, McKeon drove off in his own car. When he returned to the victim's apartment at around 1 a.m., McKeon began yelling at the victim, telling her she embarrassed him in front of his friends.

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McKeon repeatedly pushed the victim down on the couch every time she tried to stand, then threw a vase against a wall, knocked over the Christmas tree, took the house phone and broke it, then grabbed her cell phone and left.

He warned her that if she called the police, he would kill her, Maltby said.

The victim had to knock on doors to find someone who was awake and could let her use their phone to call the police.

McKeon told Judge Ellen Caulo that the victim was upset because he wanted to go out with friends, one of whom was an old girlfriend.

"I was mad and she was mad,'' McKeon said.

In her victim-impact statement, the victim told the judge she had been verbally and mentally abused by McKeon during their two-year relationship, which culminated in a physical assault.

"You don't know the fear and intimidation I had to overcome just to place that 911 call,'' the victim told the judge.

She said McKeon was a 22-year veteran MBTA police detective and his father was the retired police chief in the town where she lived.

"It was not an easy call to make,'' she said.

Immediately after the incident, the victim went to Georgia to be with her family in a "safe haven.'' But a five-day visit turned into a five-month escape, during which time she continued to pay the rent and bills on the place in Chelmsford.

Two days ago, in anticipation of McKeon's change of plea, the victim returned to her Chelmsford apartment, which looked just as it did the day she left.

Defense attorney Patrick Richard presented the judge with a number of letters of support and noted that McKeon's father and sisters were in court to support him.

Richard noted that with this conviction, McKeon, who is facing termination from the MBTA, will never work as a police officer again.

Richard described McKeon's behavior as a "slow, downward spiral.''

Last February, the victim learned that McKeon, who had been released without bail in the Chelmsford case, was arrested following a Feb. 14 incident where he allegedly fired four shots into a Nashua hotel room, triggering a seven-hour police standoff and McKeon being arrested after he allegedly pointed a gun at police.

McKeon is still facing four counts of reckless conduct and one count of criminal threatening in that case.

McKeon, who told a New Hampshire judge that he was suicidal, was initially held on $250,000 cash bail and then released for a 30-day commitment to a mental-health facility.

As a result, the victim has suffered from depression and insomnia, she said. But after therapy, the victim said she is now a stronger person.

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